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::With respect I think that included it on the top of the line without distinguishing it makes it very easier to gloss over for a casual reader, and difficult to read for others. There's also arguable precedent for it being consistent to the white space with turnout and election being in the side bar of the compact election boxes (see Bradford). [[User:Ballotboxworm|Ballotboxworm]] ([[User talk:Ballotboxworm|talk]]) 17:27, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
::With respect I think that included it on the top of the line without distinguishing it makes it very easier to gloss over for a casual reader, and difficult to read for others. There's also arguable precedent for it being consistent to the white space with turnout and election being in the side bar of the compact election boxes [[(see Blackburn]]| Blackburn (UK Parliamentary Constituency)]]). [[User:Ballotboxworm|Ballotboxworm]] ([[User talk:Ballotboxworm|talk]]) 17:27, 31 May 2017 (UTC)


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Politics of the United Kingdom

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David Cameron at GA reassesment

David Cameron, an article that you or your project may be interested in, has been nominated for a community good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article.

Proposed return of traditional blue British passports

The Proposed return of traditional blue British passports article is apparently prodigiously sourced but a quick inspection might indicate that some of the sources are being somewhat stretched to support the text in the article and there is at least one plain error (a quote that does not appear to be in the source). The title also seems rather cumbersome, the word "traditional" questionable, possibly POV, and the title is contradicted in the first sentence by the statement that it "is an action to be taken", rather than the "proposal" indicated by the title. It could do with an inspection and possibly some revision. Mutt Lunker (talk) 19:25, 16 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It's a completely unnecessary article. Should be merged to British passport. Number 57 19:34, 16 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I can certainly see strengths in that view. (Additionally, just clocked a couple of MOS:ENGVAR examples, regarding North American terms or spellings.) Mutt Lunker (talk) 19:43, 16 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
there is also nothing in the article pointing out that we could have made our passports blue within the EU, if we had wanted to, like Croatia still does. Yet strangely no-one thought it worth making a fuss about until now. Also no mention of the limitations imposed by modern passport-reading technology, which would for example rule out a return to the old hard cover. MapReader (talk) 04:47, 17 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Entirely agree with Number 57 - this seems ripe for merger. Bondegezou (talk) 17:28, 20 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
When I looked at the article it reminded me very much of Debate over a British Independence Day observed in the United Kingdom. And behold, it seems to be largely a product of the same editor. I think there is some useful material here to be merged, but for various reasons I don't think that it needs a separate article. Shritwod (talk) 18:29, 20 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Crazy title - can't see anyone looking that up! In any case, it is not the job of an encyclopaedia to predict what might or might not happen, especially when no official proposal has been made. Daily Express? Well, really. Crystal ball of the highest order. Emeraude (talk) 14:40, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
It would be useful to have some of these views expressed over at Talk:British_passport#Merger_proposal. Bondegezou (talk) 15:31, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Mutt Lunker, please give some examples of some of sources being "stretched to support the text in the article". A claim like that would need evidence, otherwise anyone can just saying anything about anything. Unproven, until shown otherwise. Next, the claim that the phrase 'traditional' is "questionable" - a quick search through the first 20 cited sources has, at my count, 7-8 mentions of "traditional" and ostensibly 3 mentions of it in the headline of articles, across all the references section. That's fairly basic research. Would you care to count and reassess your statement? The one "error" you did manage to find was an accidental different quote from Liz Hurley's support, which has now been reconciled.
Number 57, can you provide some insight into why it's "unnecessary", in your opinion? Perhaps I don't like that national newspapers, magazines, BBC programming and an explicit campaign with national coverage is pushing for that issue. But would it make them unnecessary and not allowed? That may not be your position, but I'd be interested to see what criteria on Wikipedia you claim this isn't necessary or allowed.
MapReader, I think those are good suggestions and if you can find notable sources like national newspapers and popular online publications (like the majority of the references I've sourced) which cover the issues/angles you've raised, then they should certainly go into the article. I may be able to find a few in the meantime.
Shritwod, under what Wikipedia criteria would this not merit being a stand-alone article? The issue is the subject of nationally reported campaigning and coverage. Can you explain what standards of notoriety that doesn't reach, with regards Wikipedia standards? Or is this just a sort of ad hominem swipe on my previous contributions with zero evidence against the new contribution? Time will tell.
Emeraude, whether you can "see" people "looking that up" is not criteria for the notability of an article. Articles such as London independence (not happening) and Proposed second Scottish independence referendum (at time of creation, completely unconfirmed) would not exist by those standards. You may be slightly muddling the concepts of; if something is being reported with enough consistency and notability to be an article versus; if it will definitely happen. London independence is clearly not happening, but it's still a credible article due to the reporting and campaigning. Which is why Proposed return of traditional blue British passports (almost certainly happening, based on the sounds coming out of the government and legislative sources) is a credible stand-alone article. Mdmadden (talk) 14:43, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Not everything deserves a standalone article, but the new passport format certainly would merit an inclusion in the main article. As for an ad hominem attack? Well, I try to avoid those but the truth is that there was a long and rather fractious AfD debate about Debate over a British Independence Day observed in the United Kingdom which did seem to split along pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit lines. Both articles appear to follow a pattern indicative of WP:AXE. Shritwod (talk) 18:21, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Also, Mdmadden you make a fair point about London Independence and the Indyref2, but certainly in the latter case there is a legislative process that has started off. Perhaps a closer comparison would be Bank of England £5 note where the new £5 merits a section, but not its own article. Shritwod (talk) 18:35, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Although it was evident in a small amount of comments made by a minority of contributors to the discussion over the Debate over a British Independence Day observed in the United Kingdom, I refute that the division of views on the article's content and validity was based on a pro- and anti-Brexit split. As most contributors, quite rightly, did not use the discussion as a forum for their own personal viewpoint on the desirability of the concept of the topic it is impertinent to imply that their view of the article split along such lines. Likewise it would not be appropriate for viewpoints on this new passport article to be based on anything other than the article's pertinence, factual basis and validity as a stand-alone article. It should have no basis in support or otherwise for leaving or remaining in the EU, a preference between blue and maroon or any such irrelevance. Mutt Lunker (talk) 23:47, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Well, yes, that's how it should work. But I think in that AfD debate it was not the case. It is not so much the content of the article (and by and large both articles do explore every aspect in great detail), but the assertion somehow that the topic is a "thing". Creating an article on a contentious topic can help to create an impression somehow that this is a matter pressing on the minds of the citizens of the UK. Astroturfing, perhaps? Shritwod (talk) 14:25, 24 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed. It comes under WP:CFORK. Bondegezou (talk) 16:36, 24 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
It does seem in both discussions that there is a leaning towards merger. How can we progress this? Shritwod (talk) 12:27, 10 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Dissolution 2017

The 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom is set to dissolve on Wednesday 3rd May. This means that all 649 current MPs will lose their post-nominal letters and their succession boxes must be modified to remove any suggestion of incumbency. I managed one hundred and fifteen such corrections in 2015 (and many dozens more in the devolved elections since) but some assistance would be much appreciated. Robin S. Taylor (talk) 19:56, 20 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Is the dissolution at midnight, or at close of business? If the former, I will pitch in. (If the latter, I'll be out and it'll probably be done by the time I get in.) --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 22:15, 20 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
legally it happens at one minute past midnight. MapReader (talk) 12:11, 21 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Have you considered using AWB? Would seem idea for edits like this. You can do one every two or three seconds if you set it up properly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Number 57 (talk • contribs)

I think it might be a good idea if someone could get AWB onto this. I've done some former SNP MPs but I realised that they are usually identified as serving MPs in the lede as well, so I've edited the ledes too. Finding the best form of words is a bit tricky - mainly I've changed "is the MP for..." to "was elected MP for ... in 2015 and is standing for re-election in the United Kingdom general election, 2017," though on reflection, the last bit might not be necessary. I'm trying not to give the implication that people have stood down if they haven't. --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 11:44, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

 Question: There seems to be some mild edit warring on some political party pages over whether the infobox should say "0" MPs in the House of Commons, or reflect their pre-dissolution numbers. What's the consensus? Anyone remember what we did in 2015? — Richard BB 16:50, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Technically, the House of Commons ceases to exist. Saying 0 is misleading. I'd just use the pre-dissolution numbers, but can't remember what we did last time. Bondegezou (talk) 17:13, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds fair enough to me — Richard BB 19:45, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Seems overdoing it and a bit misleading to put zero. Pre-dissolution is fine and I think implicitly understood by readers. SocialDem (talk) 19:52, 3 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Repeal of the Acts of Union?

This seems to be a somewhat earth-shattering element to have been omitted from the Acts of Union 1707 article until now, if correct. Is it?

Please comment on this RFC

Greetings, WikiProject members. If you have the time, please consider dropping by at Talk:First Cameron ministry. Many thanks.--Nevé–selbert 16:55, 1 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Zero-rated supply and a bit more

While reading an article in today's Sunday Times, I came across: "The detail of the plan, circulated by Labour officials, shows only the standard rate of VAT will be frozen. It says nothing about zero-rated goods and services such as insurance, food, medicines and building supplies, meaning they could be hit. The plan also leaves room for increasing the 5% rate on gas and electricity bills." (Shipman, Tim (7 May 2017). "Labour tax rise to hit earners on £80,000". The Sunday Times. pp. 1–2.). Could someone with competence in economics please expand Zero-rated supply? (While I'm at it, Tim Shipman, the political editor of The Times, could probably do with an article, if anyone is able to find enough RS.) Thank you.Zigzig20s (talk) 13:04, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

In the same article, Karie Murphy is described as "Corbyn's gatekeeper"--potentially passes GNG?Zigzig20s (talk) 13:09, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Election boxes Manual Of Style

Hello projecteers and @JRPG:, @Frinton100:, @BrownHairedGirl:, @Galloglass: and any others who may wish to contribute

Following a brief discussion over at the Oxford East page, it has become apparent that we need, as a project, to put into formal Wiki-ese the widely agreed upon convention about the way in which we design election boxes. My understanding of the convention is that the Manual Of Style needs to explicitly say that:

  • Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by surname
  • Citations are placed at the heading, not after the candidates

If this is agreeable and accepted by the project as a whole, I would like to move this proposal over to Manual of Style. Any ideas, thoughts? doktorb wordsdeeds 11:15, 13 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Agree Doktorbuk. We've been doing this for a good number of GE's now so moving it to the manual of style seems appropriate. - Galloglass 11:32, 13 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Agree Doktorbuk. Anything which clarifies rules is to be welcomed. JRPG (talk) 13:06, 13 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I am wary of instruction creep ... but if there is consensus that instruction is actually needed, then yes, it should be ballot paper order, which is currently alphabetical order by surname. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs)
Could you link to the convention? Or do you mean that this is just the way it is done for most election boxes? I agree with the alphabetical listing, but citations in the heading surely makes it much more difficult to verify each candidate? (at least until we have a citation for all the election candidates in one place) Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 07:41, 14 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Absolutelypuremilk: I also dislike forcing all citations into the heading.
It seems to me that it citations which list all candidates should be in the heading, but those which refer only to individual candidates should be beside their names. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 08:04, 14 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I also agree with Absolutelypuremilk and User:BrownHairedGirl: putting all the citations in the heading does not make sense to me when they refer only to individual candidates. Bondegezou (talk) 11:12, 14 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Citations next to names is messy and potentially misleading. Do the citations indicate support? Do the citations link to a personal website, perhaps attempting to contravene rules on spam or promotion? It looks messy and unprofessional to link citations next to candidates when the correct place would be next to the heading ("Here's the election box and all the citations in one easy place to validate it"). doktorb wordsdeeds 23:48, 16 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I also favour listing candidates in alphabetical ballot paper order, ideally supported by a single citation in the heading that lists all candidates. I've found myself citing various regional newspapers, local council websites or PDF Statements of Persons Nominated recently. Today the BBC announced comprehensive listings for every constituency:
These have the advantage of being accessible and from an impartial reliable source. They appear to use the same URLs as their 2015 coverage. I expect the BBC will update the content after the results are in, making the citations useful beyond the election too. Only 650 articles to edit... AJP (talk) 19:54, 17 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

With election results for local authorities, the order used by sources is number of votes. Retaining the order in the sources makes it easier to get the data right, and to check it.-- Toddy1 (talk) 08:32, 15 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The use of alphabetical order is just for before the election. Bondegezou (talk) 09:02, 15 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Executives in Uk local authorities

A change has been made to the infoboxes on pages such that the total number of councillors for the ruling party are labelled as "Executive". For example, Camden London Borough Council - "Executive (Labour) 38".

This is legally incorrect. Under the 2000 Local Government Act, Executive members are the members of the Cabinet, only. It would be correct to say that Labour is the party that comprises/controls the executive, but totally incorrect to put the number "38" against the word executive, since there are only ten executive members on Camden Council, with the other 28 being, in law, non-executive members, entitled to participate in the scrutiny process but forbidden from involvement in any executive decision making. The infobox is therefore both incorrect and misleading, and its presentation/format needs to be changed.

By the way, it is also the case that no-one would refer to this council as "Camden London Borough Council". The usual formulations would be "Camden Borough Council" or the "London Borough of Camden" or, for the full title, the Council of the London Borough of Camden. Making "London" the second word of the title looks bizarre. MapReader (talk) 07:33, 15 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed on both points. Bondegezou (talk) 09:01, 15 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Whoever made this change was misguided. Surely it can be reverted? We don't speak in terms of "executives" in the UK doktorb wordsdeeds 23:45, 16 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
You're right that the terminology was alien when the Act came into force fifteen years ago. But it is now more often heard in local government circles (although many prefer the more familiar term "Cabinet") since the majority of decisions are now by law executive ones (noting that "executive decisions" can be taken by officers, or in some circumstances by other members such as the case of an Area Committee, whereas "Cabinet decisions" belong to the Cabinet) However, the term is never used in the way WP is currently, to refer to the whole of the party group(s) controlling the council. I cannot see when the infobox was changed; this must have been done centrally and applied to all council pages at once? Whoever made this change does not understand local government. The name change (again to all Borough pages) was made two years ago; again I don't know why? Personally I would prefer to revert to "Camden Borough Council", which is the common British usage. Yes, this doesn't mention London, but then district, borough and unitary authority titles do not refer to their county anywhere in the UK, to my knowledge. MapReader (talk) 07:27, 17 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

No one here is able to defend/explain these changes? MapReader (talk) 15:08, 23 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with the Executive point. A council Executive is a formal name for the cabinet, in authorities that have that type of constitution. The figure given on the Camden page is the total councillors in what's often called the ruling party or Administration or simply the majority. Given the limitations of what I can see of the Infobox Legislature template I would suggest the heading Administration which contrasts properly with Opposition below. Also an Administration can be made up of more than one party, or can be a minority, ruling out the other two terms I have mentioned.

However I have an idea that Camden London Borough Council is a (not 'the') legally valid name for the council of a London Borough, even though not much used. Given the difficulty in agreeing names for local council pages I suggest leaving this alone!

Incidentally, does anyone think Infobox Legislature does not suit these pages very well and maybe Infobox settlement (as seen on London Borough of Camden) would do just as well? It for example has the form of government field which can state 'Mayor/Cabinet' or whatever, which Legislature doesn't seem to. Sussexonian (talk) 14:26, 27 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Number of registered voters

Does anyone have a suggestion where the number of registered voters should be put in an "election box"? This information is provided in the results of past local authority elections available from www.electionscentre.co.uk.-- Toddy1 (talk) 08:39, 15 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I have also been grappling with this particular issue recently. The registered electors template seems broken anyway, so I can't appear to get that to show up in the votes tally, but even if I could that would look a bit weird and increase the cumbersomeness of the bottom of a table which already shows rejected ballots, majority, turnout and swing. Another suggestion for where we could put it may be the top underneath the ward name. My most recent attempts to get this to work are below:
Hendon Ward [1]
Electorate: 7681
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Dale Michael Mordey 1,376
Conservative Syed Ajmol Ali 429 33.7
Green Helmut Izaks 156
Liberal Democrats Callum James Alexander Littlemore 155 6.4
Rejected ballots 26 1.2
Majority 947 64.2
Turnout 2142 27.9
Labour hold Swing

If anyone's reading this I'd be grateful for feedback on whether this is appropriate. Ballotboxworm (talk) 16:16, 31 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The solution I tried for the elections in Category:Mid Bedfordshire District Council elections was as follows:-- Toddy1 (talk) 16:58, 31 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Flitwick West (3 seats, 5,795 registered voters)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Stephen Male* 1,283 65.9 +10.1
Conservative Dennis Gale* 1,191 61.2 +0.2
Conservative David Bayntun 1,067 54.8
Liberal Democrats Isobel Mason 715 36.7
Turnout 1,947 33.6 +5.0
Flitwick East (2 seats, 4,147 registered voters)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rowland Goodman 597 52.0
Labour Paul Griffiths* 553 48.1 −2.4
Labour Maurice Layton* 531 46.2 −3.1
Conservative Victor Lee 517 45.0
Turnout 1,149 27.7 −8.2
With respect I think that included it on the top of the line without distinguishing it makes it very easier to gloss over for a casual reader, and difficult to read for others. There's also arguable precedent for it being consistent to the white space with turnout and election being in the side bar of the compact election boxes (see Blackburn| Blackburn (UK Parliamentary Constituency)]]). Ballotboxworm (talk) 17:27, 31 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

We – Community Tech – are happy to announce that the Popular pages bot is back up-and-running (after a one year hiatus)! You're receiving this message because your WikiProject or task force is signed up to receive the popular pages report. Every month, Community Tech bot will post at Wikipedia:WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom/Popular pages with a list of the most-viewed pages over the previous month that are within the scope of WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom.

We've made some enhancements to the original report. Here's what's new:

  • The pageview data includes both desktop and mobile data.
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We're grateful to Mr.Z-man for his original Mr.Z-bot, and we wish his bot a happy robot retirement. Just as before, we hope the popular pages reports will aid you in understanding the reach of WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom, and what articles may be deserving of more attention. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at m:User talk:Community Tech bot.

Warm regards, the Community Tech Team 17:16, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

James Heappey

The sitting Conservative MP James Heappey (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), who is standing for re-election, has been involved in a controversy relating to comments he made at a school during a discussion on Scotland. The affair has been reported in several broadsheets, and has drawn in two party leaders.

The article's coverage of the incident has been repeatedly removed by single-purpose accounts and IPs, and at my request the page is now semi-protected for 2 weeks.

However, it is not being watched by many editors. Please can some members of this project keep an eye on it? --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 22:21, 17 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

  1. ^ "Declaration of Results - Hendon Ward" (PDF). Sunderland City Council. Sunderland City Council. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
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